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Ark Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is a major transportation hub in Newark, New Jersey. Located at Raymond Plaza, between Market Street and Raymond Boulevard, Newark Penn Station is served by the Newark Light Rail, New Jersey Transit commuter rail, Amtrak long distance trains, the PATH rapid transit system, and local, regional and national bus services (NJ Transit, Greyhound, and other private operators). History Designed by the renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, the station is a mixture of Art Deco and Neo-Classical. The interior of the main waiting room has medallions illustrating the history of transportation, from wagons to steamships to cars and airplanes, the eventual doom of the railroad age. The current building was dedicated on March 23, 1935; the first regular train to use it was a New York–Philadelphia express at 10:17 on March 24. The new station was built alongside (northwest of) the old station, which was then demolished and replaced by the southeast half of the present station, completed in 1937. Except for the separate, underground Newark Light Rail station, tracks are elevated above street level. It was built to be one of the centerpieces of the former Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR's) train network, and was a transfer point to the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH), which was partially funded by the PRR, for travel to lower Manhattan. At the time, PRR operated 232 weekday trains (total of both directions) between Newark and New York Penn Station; after 1937, the 10-mile trip took an average of 16 minutes. The station, the adjacent 230-foot Dock Bridge over the Passaic River (the longest three-track railway lift span in existence at the time), the Newark City Subway extension and the realignment of the H&M cost $42 million, borne almost evenly by the PRR and the City of Newark. Both systems were extended or realigned to the station on June 20, 1937, closing Manhattan Transfer. Tracks and Platforms Newark Penn has eight tracks (not including Newark Light Rail). Seven are on one level, but PATH trains from Manhattan arrive on an upper-level track with a platform on the west side, from which passengers can quickly reach platforms for their onward trains. *Track A is less used and has a side platform, usually for Raritan Valley Line arrivals. *Track 1 is normally used by New Jersey Transit trains to New York Penn Station and is served by an island platform shared with Track M. *Track M is the track for departing PATH trains to World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. *Track 2 is typically used by Amtrak and some New Jersey Transit trains to New York, but is also used during the PM rush for westbound North Jersey Coast Line express trains. This track has an island platform that is shared with the PATH departure track. *Track 3 is usually used by southbound Amtrak trains, though westbound New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor Line express trains will often use this track in the evening rush hours. This platform has an island platform shared with: *Track 4, used by westbound New Jersey Transit trains traveling via Rahway. *Track 5 is usually used by westbound Raritan Valley Line trains. This track has a side platform. *Track H is the PATH arrivals track. This upper-level track has stairs to Track 2, along with ramps to Tracks 3 and 4, and a separate stairway to Track 5.